Pokka Beverage of Northern California (a division of Coca Cola North America) experienced increasing energy costs and decreasing reliability from their local utility. A recent 43% increase in electric costs was impacting profitability and forcing Pokka to shift much of their production to off-peak hours, thus disrupting the lives of their workforce. Northern Power Systems designed, built and installed a 1 MW, $1.9 million grid-paralleled combined heat and power system to produce baseload electricity and hot water for the bottling lines, as well as provide seamless support for critical loads in the event of a utility outage. This system delivers 70% of Pokka's electricity and 30% of its hot water needs with an overall system efficiency of 75%, which qualifies it for a 30% incentive payment from the Public Utility Commission. The $635,000 annual savings in energy costs from the project will enable the project to pay for itself in just over two years.

The session presents creative approaches to reduce operating costs via specific applications and the resulting benefits utilizing small package combined heat and power systems. Guidelines are presented for identifying CHP opportunities in your facility. Strategies to reduce utility costs, as well as pertinent considerations for system installation and maintenance, are discussed.

Coffee break

Two manufacturing facilities on either side of the country showcase the ability of CHP to seamlessly fit into manufacturing processes to reduce energy costs and protect against grid disruptions. Close to home, the Crane Paper Company in Dalton, MA literally uses CHP to make money. This local manufacturer is contracted by the U.S. Government to make the paper that U.S. currency is printed on. In their process, they use low pressure steam to manufacture paper. In 1991, they installed a backpressure steam turbine generator that generates 426 kW of electricity from this steam just upstream of their paper machines. Installed for $225,000, the system has already paid for itself 3x over in electricity savings. On the other side of the country, the Morningstar Company, a tomato processor was prompted to install CHP after their utility asked them to pay for a local substation upgrade. Rather than pay for utility capital upgrades, they installed the third of three steam turbine-generators with functionality to operate completely independently of the grid, providing 100% of their 3,000 kW power demand. During the summer of 2000 when the rest of California was without power, they recouped their entire project capital cost in just 3 months and were able to operate at full capacity without disruption during the region-wide blackouts.

Even after choosing to install a combined heat and power system, many facility owners continue to wrestle with questions over financing, risk management, and operations and maintenance, among others. A number of different options exist for addressing these questions. Many creative arrangements, both technical and financial, allow owners to tailor cost and risk to match their specific circumstances. These options include technologies that allow owners to avoid the need for onsite operators through the use of advanced real-time monitoring and controls technologies as well as leasing and third-party ownership arrangements that reduce or eliminate upfront costs.

Audience Questions/Discussion

Hear about a soon to be formed resource supporting the application of CHP in the Northeast, the Northeast Regional CHP Application Center. This Center based out of the university will provide application assistance, market research, and education and outreach to end-users, CHP developers, and other CHP stakeholders in the region. This will help the Center accomplish the following goals:

• Establish a One-Stop Technology and Policy Clearinghouse
• Promote Standardized and Easily Replicable CHP Solutions Within Target Markets
• Guide Market Participants To Select Projects that will Improve the Technical, Economic and Environmental Performance of CHP
• Create Central Repository of CHP Operating History and Validated Performance Metrics to Educate Customers and Inform Policymakers
• Educate Policymakers so that they can Formulate Solutions to Overcome Market and Regulatory Barriers to Create CHP Penetration
• Promote Opportunities for Grid Connected CHP Systems that meet Load Response